picornavirus

Epidemiology

• found in mammals & birds
• humans serve as natural hosts

Structure

• small, cytoplasmic, plus-strand RNA ~7.5 kB
• no envelope, 30 nm icosahedral capsid

Clinical manifestations

• most infections are asymptomatic
• some picornaviruses cause mild illnesses
• a few serotypes cause diseas of the central nervous system, heart, skeletal muscles, &/or liver

Laboratory

• picornavirus antigen
• picornavirus in stool by electron microscopy

More general terms

• picornaviridae